HP Mystery club H as in horible P as in pranksters
by Rivierasun
Summary: When Fred and George leave so spectacularly, they leave a legacy of pranks and rule breaking. Now the postion of school prankster has never looked so inviting. They also leave a very annoyed Ginny and friends to clean up the mess of wanna be pranksters.


Bloody Brilliant (Jacquie)

The rising red sun showered the hills in its rose-gold light. The sparse clouds lit up like Christmas lights reflecting its radiance. Ginny Weasley had never been one for sunrises—too bright, and way too early. But she had to admire the view, what with the lake lying crystal-smooth and perfectly mirroring the world above it. With the light breeze gently swaying the branches of the Whomping Willow, you'd never suspect the violent things that tree could do. But Ginny didn't have time to admire the scenery or sniff the roses, because she was sprinting across the frost-covered lawn after the boy in front of her.

He was Daniel Black, a third year in Hufflepuff, and the elusive Black Card. After Fred and George had left Hogwarts so spectacularly in the middle of their seventh year, their legacy had grown, and there had been hell to pay. Hundreds of copycats had sprung up around the school, all of them trying to make a name for themselves by pulling their own less-than-funny pranks. Things went missing with such regularity that a new board had to be put up just to hold all the lost notices. Spells were set off in classrooms that turned every lesson into chaos. Food and drink were constantly being spiked; most people carried Specoscopes to meals with them to test the food.

It was pure madness, and the Prefects of each house decided to do something about it. So at their next meeting, the eight of them made a vow to find the pranksters and put an end to this chaos.

It was that vow that had led Ginny to her present occupation of capturing one such prankster, who found it funny to place a black card under the pillow of his next intended victim (always a firstie, the big bully) and hex them the next day in the Great Hall between classes. It had been a tough case to crack, but Ginny and her team had done it.

"Stop!" Daniel turned his head sharply and stared at her for a moment with wide eyes before whipping that head full of (what else) black locks back around and running that much faster. Great, Ginny, just bloody great. He thinks you're mental. Now he's never going to come in easily, she thought, and she put on a burst of speed.

Daniel was running straight across the lawn toward the greenhouses when he suddenly shot off to the right, through the vegetable garden. That wasn't supposed to happen, Ginny thought furiously. He was running for the Forbidden Forest now, probably counting on losing her in the woods and supposing that anything he met in there would be safer than a Prefect who had gone mental.

As Ginny ran past the greenhouses, she heard three voices shout, "Stupefy!" Red beams of light shot above her head and she ducked, screaming, "Stop, it's me! He's headed for the Forbidden Forest."

She jumped the little posts that supported green vines of tomatoes and peapods. and landed in a mud puddle. She kept going, mud spattered up the back of her favorite robes. That's it, you're going down, Dan, she thought, narrowing her eyes at the back of his head. She was catching up now, shortening the distance between them. He must have heard her labored breathing, for he turned his head once more to look over his shoulder at her. That second's delay was all that was needed. A huge branch swung into the back of his head with a loud crack that rent the morning air, sending him flying backward. He landed in a crumpled heap ten feet away from the agitated Whomping Willow.

"Stupefy," Ginny gasped, pointing her wand at Dan, though it was unnecessary as he was already unconscious. She knelt down next to his limp form, the grass crunching beneath her feet, and checked his pulse. It was beating regularly and she let out a sigh of relief. It would be just her luck if that blow had killed him.

"Did we get him?" an excited voice asked. She turned to see seven students racing toward her.

"We got him, Is," said Ginny. She grinned up at a blond girl wearing Hufflepuff robes, who beamed back. Isabella Cornwelch was a sixth year Hufflepuff and a master at analyzing her surroundings to find answers.

Ginny shivered as the wind turned icy. A brunette boy crouched next to her and covered her shoulders with a black jacket. "Thanks, Mordred."

"What if it had snowed, Ginny?" Mordred said, shaking his head. "You could at least have put on a jacket." His bright blue eyes met her green ones.

She just shook her head. "Wouldn't have seemed natural, wearing a coat in the Great Hall."

He sighed. "You're crazy, Ginny."

Mordred was a seventh year in Slytherin and the best of the group at playing the bad cop when they needed information.

"I thought I had him this time. That was one of my best ones yet," Luna said sadly. Ginny stood and put her arm around Luna's shoulders.

"Next time," Ginny promised. "I can feel it." Luna Lovegood was a seventh year in Ravenclaw who, although sometimes rather vague, had some brilliant plans for catching the pranksters. Although her plans were good, they didn't always go perfectly; but they always caught the pranksters in the end.

Ginny turned to look at the pale form of Daniel Black. "So who's going to carry him back to the castle?" The three girls grinned smugly at the only guy in the group.

Back at the castle, the eight sat around a table in the Prefects' room celebrating their victory with steaming mugs of butterbeer. Despite the weather, which looked and felt like early winter, the room showed the true time of year. It was thoroughly decked out in Christmas decorations. A wreath hung on the door, holly was festooned about the walls, and mistletoe had been placed strategically above certain areas such as the cozy little loveseat near the roaring fire. Not that Ginny noticed. She was much too busy with her steaming mug of butterbeer to think of the romantic touches around the room.

The Prefects happily toasted one another as they celebrated another victory. "To Is, whose sharp eyes cracked the case wide open," Ginny toasted in a satisfied voice.

"Hear, hear," the others called out merrily. They clanked their mugs together and took great swigs of butterbeer to seal the toast.

"To Ginny, who captured the Black Card," Is joyfully toasted next.

"Well, technically the Whomping Willow caught him," Mordred teased, and received a sharp elbow jab in return.

"_Technically_, you're a boy in a room full of mistletoe and-hormone crazed girls," Ginny shot back. Mordred looked around warily.

"Point taken."

"I don't think it was the Whomping Willow that caught him. I think it was Invisible Huffsnikles," Luna said seriously, eyes wide as she delivered her solemn conclusion.

"Well, to Huffsnikles, then!" said Is, mediating the situation before Mordred had a chance to comment. He just smirked and raised his mug to meet the others'.

Just then the door burst open, revealing the jubilant face of the Headmaster. It bounced off the opposite wall and slammed shut again. After a moment there was a hesitant knock. Is opened it and invited the Headmaster inside. Still grinning from ear to ear, he entered the room with a little skip in his step. He approached the table and gave a deep bow which caused his red beard to touch the ground and his glasses to slide to the end of his nose.

"Bravo! It seems that none can escape capture with you Prefects on the job. I must say, if you keep at it there won't be much work for Mr Filch." The headmaster chuckled at the Prefects' poorly concealed grins at that announcement.

"You mean we could get Filch fired, Professor Dumbledore?" Mordred didn't try to hide his pleasure at the thought.

"Oh no, I can't fire him. He did work for my brother when Albus was Headmaster, after all," answered Dumbledore as he accepted a mug of steaming butterbeer. "Thank you, Miss Cornwelch. No, I will simply have to find some other work for him to do."

"Can't say I didn't try," Mordred mumbled into his mug as he took another swig.

"I believe a toast is in order," Dumbledore raised his mug, "to the…uh the…um." He scratched his beard looking around at them bemused. "I'm terribly sorry; I can't seem to recall this little group's name."

"We don't have a name, sir." Is clarified.

"Well you should certainly think of getting one. How else am I supposed to brag of your merits to the other Headmasters at our monthly tea parties?"

This stumped the group though more so that the headmasters of the witching and wizarding schools had tea parties then anything else. Luna was the only one who found this quite natural and went on to say, "You shouldn't drink tea professor, my father just published an article about how the ministry is spiking tea with plumnierva."

Luna was smiling her strange little smile as she said this. It was the smile she always wore when she was talking about something so bizarre the only logical place it could be from was her father's magazine. But then again that was the press for you

"Let me guess it turns them into a plum." Mordred said incredulously rolling his eyes.

Luna begin to retort to tell him exactly what plumnierva did.

Ginny sighed shaking her head in exasperation. That's when she saw Is. Is had gone still, her eyes unfocused staring into a place far away from where she sat. Her breathe caught in her chest and did not return. To anyone else she would have looked dead, but Ginny knew all to well what was happening to her friend. Is had visions of things that were happening in far off places as they were happening. She had had these visions since she started coming to Hogwarts. Ironically she had failed Divination.

Finally Is released her breath in a gasp and her eyes focused once again, as she crumbled back into her chair released from whatever vision she had seen. Ginny caught her as she crumbled looking into Is' brilliant blue eyes. "You okay Is? Take a deep breath and drink some of this." Ginny handed her the butterbeer watching as she took a greedy gulp before continuing, "What have you seen?"

"It's bad Ginny," she took a deep breath trying to steady herself; "It's like nothing we've ever dealt with before."

"A duck!" yelled Mordred, neither he nor Luna, nor the headmaster had noticed Is' vision. They had all been quite content to talk about the effects of plumnierva. Well Luna and Dumbledore had been content; Mordred as always was another story.

"Why in the bloody blazes would the ministry be turning people into ducks by spiking tea?! That's farfetched even for you Luna."

"Well I think that that is a very reasonable theory, and will personally look into the matter. You know I've always craved a swim in the lake after tea." Dumbledore's brow furrowed, "actually I've always craved swimming in the lake, but the board says its not fitting of a headmaster." He sighed, "Ah well, I suppose I can always just swim in the prefects bathroom." His eyes went misty as he began to think of it.

"Professor there's been an incident." Ginny interrupted his mussing. "Is where is it?" she asked turning to her friend.

"In the Slytherin common room." Is said standing up, already catching her second breath, "Sir, Mordred has clearance into the common room but the rest of us don't."

"Ah yes, well I grant you all temporary access then."

They were already up, preparing to leave, Is was clearing off the table, and Mordred and Luna were grabbing equipment from a broken cupboard. Ginny was about to get some of her stuff too, but the headmaster grabbed her arm as she made for it pulling her off to the side.

"Ginny thank you for doing this, I know this must be hard for you."

"What do you mean, sir?" Ginny asked confused by his words.

"That's an excellent question, but you see I don't even know what I mean half the time." He gave a sad little chuckle. "I can see why everyone thinks I only got this job because of my brother. I know no one thinks much of me, some were probably betting on how long I'd last." He looked tired as he said this, and Ginny suddenly was struck by the thought that he looked like he was carrying a great weight no one expected him to carry for long and were just waiting for him to fail.

"You have allowed me some face in the public eye, and I thank you for it. Harry would be proud too, I imagine."

Ginny wrenched away her eyes filling with turmoiling emotions before she hid them behind an icy facet.

"We'll never know now, will we?" Then she turned to follow the others out the door. As the door swung shut behind them she heard Dumbledore yell one last thing after them.

"Do think of a name, won't you."

End Chapter One


End file.
